Strauss in Paradise 11
by AnnKa
Summary: As the title says this part of my series has a lot of Strauss in it. The relationship between Emily and Derek will come to a breaking point, where they have to decide what to do. Strauss will be the one we got to know, not the little nice pet one they showed as at the end of season 7.
1. Chapter1

I'm working on a sequence of stories that belong together but still stand for themselves.

Thanks to REIDFANATIC for Beta Reading.

Criminal Minds is not mine.

Strauss in paradise

Emily stared at her superior, horror spread all over her face. She had really thought that they had kept it down and not even the team had said anything. She was sure JJ or Garcia would have asked questions if they had found out, after all it had been over a month now.

"There are two choices, break it off or I'm going to make sure one of you gets transferred by next week and believe me it is not going to be in D.C." Strauss looked over her glasses at the agent in front of her.

"Also Agent Morgan can forget about any promotion he was dreaming about." Emily felt her heart crack; it didn't matter so much what happened to her, but he deserved better than that. "Please send him up now." With that she was released of her hostage. But as the brunette turned around to leave, Strauss spoke up: "And, by the way, you two are lucky that the whole team doesn't get punished for this."

"They didn't know."

"You work with profilers Prentiss. Even if they didn't say anything, they knew."

Emily shook her head blinking her tears away as she left the office and headed down to the bullpen where she suspected Morgan to be. She wasn't exactly sure how she was going to face him without bursting into tears; it took all her willpower to keep the tears back without looking at him. As she reached her desk she ignored the laughing and joking of her team.

"Morgan, Strauss wants to see you."

His smile disappeared as he saw her expression. She also avoided his eyes, which was never a good sign.

"Why?" He finally asked, but she just shook her head.

"Just go." It was only a whisper and he realized in how much trouble they must be in.

"Is she interviewing people again?" Rossi had been listening to the conversation, now also bringing JJ and Reid's attention to it. All of them had thought that Strauss had been on better terms with them since she had returned, but apparently that wasn't true.

"You are fine." Emily answered not looking to either of them.

"Go." She said again to Morgan, before sinking into her chair, opening a long finished file pretending to read it, while avoiding her friends' glances.

As Derek knocked on his superior's door he already had a good feeling of what to expect. He had seen it in Emily the moment she had come back and he hated Strauss for taking this out on her.

"Agent Morgan, I will make this short." He nodded closing the door behind him.

"Prentiss probably already told you. Your relationship goes way beyond what is considered as friendship and this is just a friendly reminder that the FBI doesn't promote relationships in teams, the reasons for that should be known to you without further explanation on my side. Either you break it up, or I will and that means transferring one of you across the country."

Derek stared at the blonde not believing what he had just heard. Both of them knew there was no reason for such drastic action, especially as the rules didn't encourage, but also didn't forbid, a relationship. She was paying both of them back. Emily was most likely seeing the revenge for the incident four years ago, where she had preferred to quit over betraying the team. He was sure his was most likely for his behavior during the last case before her leave. He had hoped her time off the job would make her see things more rationally, but apparently that was not true and now was payback time.

"There is no reason to be so drastic."

"I don't want to see any member of your team hurt, because of something the two of you couldn't keep home. Or do you really want to meet again after Dr. Reid or Agent Jareau got shot because your attention wasn't where it was supposed to be?" Her voice had grown harsher. "You have a week to let me know how you decide. If you break it off this is never going to leave this office."

Morgan stared at her, his eyes filled with hate. As he was about to leave, he turned back around.

"How do you even know?"

"Even I go out and apparently you, at least, have good taste in restaurants." She smiled at him, but that only made him more furious. As he stepped out, he couldn't resist the temptation to slam the door.

Emily jumped as she heard the door slamming, indicating that her boyfriend had received his share of Strauss. She glanced up, to see Morgan marching off.

"Em, what is going on?" The whole team was looking at her as she now realized.

"Nothing really."

"We are not stupid." JJ said a little harsher than intended, trying to break through her friends shell.

"It's fine. Strauss is just in a bad mood today and was critiquing a move we made during the last case." With that she got up and made her way to the offices. There was no way she was going to wait until work was over to talk to him. As she sat in one of his visitor chairs, waiting for him to come in, tears started to silently meander down her cheeks.

She had been sitting in his office for quite a while before he finally made his way back. He wasn't surprised to find her there. He was more worried about what to say. Instead of going to his side of the desk he sank into the other visitor chair, turning it so he could face her.

He watched as she wiped of her tears, clearly preparing herself to bring up her walls again.

"Emily there needs to be another way than doing what Strauss wants us to."

"Like what? If one of us requests a transfer she is not going to transfer us to another team but probably to another state." It took all her strength, but somehow she managed to keep her voice from cracking.

"We can make that work."

"What, are you going to fly in every weekend? Or even worse if she transfers me I have to get Declan out of his school and away from his friends."

"Can't your mom figure something out?"

Emily's thoughts stopped as he mentioned her mom and she rapidly shook her head. There was a lot she would do for him, but calling her mom was pushing it, not because he wasn't worth it, but simply because her pride was stronger than that.

"I'm not asking my mother to save my job."

"You'd rather break up than ask your mom for some help?" He looked at her incredulously. As she didn't answer he knew that he was right.

"Emily that is ridiculous."

"You don't understand."

"You are dang right, I don't understand." He got up from his chair and started pacing through the room.

"I just can't and I don't know if my mom would even do something about it."

"Well you can at least ask her."

She shook her head no, as she was not about to change her mind.

"You are so stubborn. But apparently you'd rather give us up than ask for help and that solves the problem either way." The words were out before he could stop himself, his anger for Strauss once more taking over. He saw the hurt in her eyes and immediately regretted his words. She got up to face him, her eyes filling with tears again.

"I love you and I can't lose you Derek." Her voice was interrupted by sobs and one of her tears slid past the barrier to roll down her cheek. "But I'm not going to ask my mother to get into this and if that means I can only have you as a friend or even as a coworker, then that is what it means. I want you around and not in some distant isolated FBI field office, nobody has heard of so far."

"Princess…" He didn't know what to say, since she had obviously made up her mind.

"And you should stop calling me that." With that she left his office, resisting the temptation of looking back. She didn't miss his curse and the banging of the door, followed by something that sounded like a kick against his desk that was followed by a bunch of things falling and another curse.

As she walked back towards her own desk, she wiped off the tears. A glance on her phone told her that she could probably leave without getting in more trouble. She therefore locked her drawer with gun and badge and threw the things she wanted to take home in her bag.

"Emily?" JJ walked over, none of them had missed the traces of tears.

"I'm fine." With that she turned and walked to the elevator. It was a good thing that it was the weekend; that way she wouldn't have to deal with her colleagues for a few days and by Monday she would have herself under control.

Halfway home she remembered that she was supposed to pick up Declan from his bus. Of course the one weekend she really wanted for herself he was coming home. That would make it a little harder to deal with the whole situation, but after all, she was trained to be professional. When he arrived she had herself enough under control to force a smile to her face.

She gave him a hug, holding unto him a little longer than usual which earned her a confused look. As they made their way home he did most of the talking telling her about his week.

After a movie he went to his room, giving her the much needed time for herself. When she checked later on, he had fallen asleep over a book. She hadn't known that he liked reading but she wouldn't complain about it. She smiled before closing the door again, going to her own bedroom. She had changed into sweats after they had come home, so now she just fell on her bed. As she turned her head to the night stand her eyes immediately locked on the picture. Declan had insisted on taking it when he had been there the last time, it showed her with Derek hugging her from behind resting his head on her shoulder with a wide grin on his lips. Her eyes wandered to the picture next that showing Declan and her, but she didn't spend much time on it. She grabbed the frame of the first picture to pull it closer. It could have been so good, but after everything that had been said today she doubted that there was any way to go back. Strauss had gotten exactly what she wanted. She had won.

Tears began to run down her cheeks, as she stared at the handsome man holding her in the picture. All the emotions she had been holding back the last few hours came up now. With the tears also came the anger, against Strauss, Derek and most of all against herself as she was too proud to save her relationship. With one angry wave she threw the picture across the room against the wall, leaving a small hole in the wall. She flinched as she heard the glass crack and the pieces fall to the ground.

Emily turned over staring at the empty spot next to her, no longer holding back on her tears or sobs. Her unconscious heard the bedroom door open, but she wasn't able to move. She felt as Declan curled up behind her, putting his arms around her and resting his head against her back. She wanted to stop crying and not make him feel bad. It wasn't his job to take care of her, but hers to take care of him, but she couldn't help it.

"I love you Emily." It was not more than a murmur behind her, but it earned the first honest smile on her face since she had entered Strauss office.

As she woke up the next morning Declan had somehow found his way in her arms. She didn't want to wake him up, so she didn't move. Her eyes wandered to the hole in the wall and then to the shattered frame on the floor. She didn't want to lose him, not for a stupid job. But the only solution to that would be Ambassador Prentiss herself. Emily knew that her mother could find some kind of contact that would help her out.

As she finally made her mind up, she carefully removed her arm from Declan. When she passed the frame she kneeled down and carefully collected the pieces putting them on her dresser. She would worry about that later. After she had the door closed behind her, she sped up and hurried downstairs grabbing the phone. She only spent a few moments listening to JJ's worried message, before going back to her original plan.

"I want to talk to Elizabeth Prentiss." She listened as they guided her through the usual procedure, another reason why she didn't like calling her mother. When they asked her the third time who she was and why she was calling, she was about to lose it.

"I'm Emily Prentiss, her daughter and I don't think I have to discuss with you what I want to tell my mother." She didn't wait much longer for the final transfer.

"_Emily, I heard you made some friends with the agents securing my phone line?"_

"And you wonder why I never call you?" It was a rhetorical question and she bit her lip, to not go further. She called her mother for help and she was not going to get it, just from fighting with her.

"I'm sorry. I need your help."

"_What is it? I suppose you don't want to ask me for parenting advice as you think I haven't done that good of a job."_

"No, Declan and I have it figured out. You remember Agent Morgan?"

"_Indeed."_

"Well he was a great help after I came back, although I expected him to be mad at me, he just was there and helped me to put the pieces back together."

"_I take it, you two got too close for the FBI likings?" _To her surprise her mother's voice didn't have an accusatory tone in it. She actually thought she heard a little bit of understanding out of it.

"Strauss called us in yesterday and it's either over or an out of state transfer."

"_Emily, I'm sorry but she has every right to do that. She needs to be sure her teams are safe."_

"I know, and that's not what I am asking for." She took a deep breath. She still couldn't believe she was making that phone call. "I'm asking you to help me get a transfer somewhere in Quantico. I really don't care what it is I just want to get out of the team. But Strauss won't do that."

The phone line was silent for the longest time.

"_You do love him, do you sweetheart?"_

In a different situation she would have worried about her mom for calling her by nicknames, since that almost never happened.

"Yes mother, in fact I wouldn't put myself in that kind of trouble for an affair." And she wouldn't call her mother for help, but she didn't say that.

"_It will take some time. I know of some positions that open up for retirement reasons and it most likely doesn't involve any traveling."_

"There are more important things than travelling."

"_I know."_

Again silence spread between the two of them.

"Do you want to come over for dinner, sometime?" Emily was not sure what had gotten into her, but this phone call was the closest she had been to her mother in a long time. "Declan's hearing was last week and he is officially your grandson now."

"I'll see when your father has an opening."

"Okay, let me know."

They ended the phone call and Emily was amazed by the result.

"Was that your mom?" She turned facing the blonde boy.

"Yeah, you are going to meet her sometime soon."

"So are you feeling better today?"

She smiled at him. She was single again and almost lost her job, but other than that her day turned out pretty good with a lovely son and taking a step towards her mother. "Yes, I am feeling better."


	2. Story Information

Story #1 Coming Home

Story #2 Healing Wounds

Story #3 What is home?

Story #4 Changing roles

Story #5 Family get-together (featuring Elizabeth and Howard Prentiss)

Story #6 Moved home (Team and some old friends)

Story #7 Trouble

Story #8 Getting used (Declan & Emily centered)

Story #9 Help with Dating (Declan, JJ and Spencer have their parts)

Story #10 Comforting (based on 7x20)

Thanks for your reviews. I'm glad you liked the story.

A few comments. I put a lot of facts from the show into the stories.

I obviously will ignore Emilys plans of buying a house, since she already has one. I'm not sure yet about Kevin/Garcia. I'm going to include the finale, but alter it to my liking, also Strauss is going to stay the mean person in my story. I just need her that way.


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